Word & Excel for Mac - any good?

I took a while to adapt from Word to Pages, but now I'm perfectly happy and the Mac is the best thing ever... whole different planet to microsoft and windoze.
However, I've been given Microsoft Office Mac: Home & Student edition as a Christmas present. I'm not convinced I need it because whenever I get an Excel document I find I can open it in Numbers, and if I then need to send it back to someone who only uses windows I can 'export' the Numbers document to Excel. Same thing applies to Pages, I can export the documents to Word.
I have two reservations about installing this software - one is that I simply don't need it, and the other is that I'm afraid it will mess up my system. That may be completely unjustified but in my previous PC experience just about any change seemed to mess up the way I had things, and was perfectly happy with, so I'm naturally resistant to change.
Please can someone tell me if there is any real need for me to have this software - things I may not have thought of... and what the likelihood is that it will impact on the smooth running of my system if I do install it.

rainbow-warrior wrote:
Thanks! I won't be able to put off installing it much longer - hubby bought me it and he's mentioned a few times that I haven't installed it yet. It crossed my mind that we could return it to the shop if I don't need it, but I don't want to hurt his feelings, so would need a good reason (like you lot saying it might cause problems, for example!).
Really, I just wondered if it is likely to cause any problems if I install it, and also if there is something I haven't thought of that might actually make it a good thing to have.
There is a huge amount of things you can do in MS Office but not in iWork. However, whether you actually need those things depends entirely on you.
One thing is that sharing complicated documents with PC users usually is easier with MS Office. But then, if your documents usually are simple and straightforward, or you rarely share documents with PS users, then that argument goes away.

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How do I print on both sides of the paper on microsoft word, excel for mac?

My printer supports printing in both sides of the paper, and prints fine on both sides any pdf file.
But there is no way to make it print on both sides when using Microsft Word or Excel
How do I set it up?

Try asking in the Microsoft Office forums. http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/mac?auth=1

Microsof Excel for Mac, any decent downloads ?

Are there any free downloads of the microsoft Excel.
Your advice appreciated.

In fairness to Klaus and his response, your first post asked if there were free downloads of Excel. You did not ask if there were free applications that could create spreadsheets. There have been a number of people posting in these forums who were looking for pirated copies of commercial software, and that's how your question read, that you were looking for a pirated copy of Excel. So you can't blame Klaus for answering the question you asked.
Next time, if you'll be more explicit in what you're asking, you'll be more likely to get the answer you're really looking for right up front.
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Can't Save Microsoft Word & Excel for MAC files

Has anyone encounter the software bug that prevent you from saving Microsoft for Word .doc and Excel workbook files to a USB drive attached to the Airport Extreme. After numerous conversations with level 2 technical support and a visit to the Apple Store where we recreated the problem with different Apple components, they confirmed there is a bug in their Airport Extreme Disk utility software. If you run into this problem, here is the solution:
Under the Apple icon, select Go, Connect to Server. Under the drive address, type smb://10.0.1.1 This solves the problem. Delete the Airport Disk utility software from the startup program list and add the network drive associated with the smb server address into the startup file to automatically attach to the network when you log in.

This is a well known issue and has been discussed in several threads. Here are a few:
MS Word can't save to Airport Disk
MS Word doesn't want to save docs to Airport Extreme connected HD
Problems saving excel doc on USB AirPort disk
Saving to external HD on USB
Airport Extreme and External Hard Drive with Word

Does anyone know how to open a .shs file on Word 2008 for Mac? Any ideas??

Does anyone know how to open a .shs file on Word 2008 for Mac? Any ideas??

Ask on the Microsoft Mac forums: http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/mac

Excel for mac not working

Dear all,
I've just upgraded to Mac OS X Leopard and am thrilled to discover all its new gadgets. I was unpleasantly surprised however to find that Excel for Mac (legally purchased a year and a half ago, part of Office for Mac software) is not working anymore. This amazes me as Word for Mac is (fortunately) doing fine, no problems there. Is there any one out there who might know what is the problem? I was thinking to reinstall excel but don't know if that'll do any good.
Thanks for your advice,
Greetings,
Cilla

Please post questions regarding Excel on Microsoft's own forums for their Mac products since this forum is for troubleshooting Apple Software Update for Windows, a software package for Windows designed to update Apple products that run on Windows, and not related to Microsoft Office
http://www.officeformac.com/productforums

I'm using the note taking view of Word 2011 for Mac so I can record a meeting as well as take notes. The audio of the internal microphone is so low - can I attach an external mic and have it work with note taking view?

Can I attach an external mic to my Macbook Air to enhance sound input for the note taking view of Word 2011 for Mac? I've tried preferences to up the volume of my sound, but I still cannot hear the recording. Any suggestions? I need to record a meeting as well as take notes so I'd like to use this tool, but the audio is not good enough.

A USB microphone can work with the Air, and I've used them before with my 11" Air. Griffin also made a product (the iMic) that will add a standard computer microphone port, connecting to your USB port. It's heyday was the time of the old iBook laptops (which also lacked a microphone in jack) but I think it's still around.
The single sound port on the 2011 models, as I recall, supports iPhone style headphone/microphone but I don't believe it will support a standard microphone input.
The built in microphone sits on the left side of the computer and I suspect wouldn't work well for picking up a lecture unless you were sitting just right in position vs. the speaker (preferably having the speaker positioned to the left and sitting really close). By design most laptop microphones presume they are going to be mainly used to record a sound coming from the person sitting at the keyboard, while for a lecture you normally would prefer it concentrate on sound coming from behind the screen.

Word 2008 for Mac and NFS mounted home directories "Save File" issues

Greetings everyone,
(Long time lurker, first time poster here)
I admin a small network (under 20 workstaitons) with a centralized NFS server, with user home directories mounted via NFS upon login. Users are authenticated via LDAP. This is all working fine, there is no problem here. The problem lies when my users use Microsoft Word 2008 for Mac. When they attempt to save a file to thier Desktop (or Documents or any folder under thier home dir) they are met with the following message:
(dialog box popup)
"Word cannot save or create this file. The disk maybe be full or write-protected. Try one or more of the following: * Free more memory. * Make sure the disk you want to save the file on is not full, write-protected or damaged. (document-name.ext)"
This happens regardless of file format (Doc, Docx, Txt) and regardless of saved location under the network mounted dir. I've noticed that when saving Word creates a .tmp file in the target directory, which only further confuses me to the underlying cause of the issue.
When users logon to a local machine account and attempt the save, there is no issue.
I have found many posts in other commuity forums, including this one, indicating that the issue is a .TempoaryItems folder in the root of the mounted directory. This folder already exists and is populated with entries such as "folder.2112" (where 2112 is the uid of the LDAP user). I find other posts indicating that this is an issue with Word:2008 and OSX10.8, with finger pointing in either direction, but no real solution.
I have installed all Office for Mac updates from Microsoft (latest version 12.3.6).
I have verified permissions of the user's home dir.
I have also ensured that this issue effects ONLY Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac apps, LibreOffice and other applications have no issue.
Does *ANYONE* have a solution or workaround for this issue? While we're trying to phase Microsoft products out, getting users to ditch Word and Excel is difficult without removing them from systems completely. So any pointers or help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks.
~k

I can't tell you how to fix bugs in an obsolete version of Office, but a possible workaround is to use mobile home directories under OS X Server. The home directories are hosted locally and synced with the server.

Locking Styles using Microsoft Word 2008 for Mac

Greetings-
I'm not sure if this is a good place to post a software question, but I having difficulty locking styles on Microsoft Word 2008 for Mac. When I try locking a document's styles on a PC it allows you to lock only the styles but allow users to edit anything else in the document. When I try to open the same document on a Mac the entire document is write protected.
I tried setting up the document protection using my Mac and it only gave me these three options: Protect for: Track Changes, Comments, Forms. I only want to protect the styles.
I hope this makes sense. Does anyone have any suggestions?
Thanks.
Kevin

tnganalyst wrote:
Does anyone have any suggestions?
One suggestion is to ask in the Word forums at Mactopia, MS's site:
http://www.officeformac.com/ProductForums/Word/
Someone here may have an answer, but this is a forum for Apple products. As such, you may have a better chance of getting an answer there.
Good luck!

Bluetooth keyboard and Word 2008 for Mac after Yosemite

Bluetooth keyboard (apple) on 27 " iMac (mid 2010) won't work in Microsoft Word 2008 for Mac after Yosemite. It is paired and recognized and works normally otherwise. Mouse works fine, too.

Follow up: After trying a number of different approaches I finally shut off the iMac and let it stay off for several minutes and then restarted it. This is something I had read that another user had tried and had worked for him. To my surprise, the keyboard now works in Word 2008. I have no idea if this will continue to work, or if it might work for any of you, but I would give it a try.
Process:
Shut Down your Mac
Let it stay off for several minutes
Power up and check to see if your bluetooth keyboard works in Word 2008.
Good luck!
chuck

What should someone do if they cannot afford to buy Excel for Mac....

Hello
What should I do if Leopard does not come with Excel for Mac STUDENT EDITION, and I am on a low budget because my parents insist that I should save the money until I finish High School.. BTW I am only 13 yrs old.
Do you think I should save up the money, but I really need it too. I can't really afford it when I have to save up my money for future uses.
Do you think I should use my Debit card and buy the Microsoft Home office (excel for mac) which is $199.99 but I have also heard a lot of things for the Leopard too. That I would have to upgrade my RAM and everything, but I don't think I have that kind of money, and I certainly do not want to borrow money from the bank and I am defineately not going to spend money on that stuff. I think I should have brought the Macbook Pro.
Did you think that a Macbook with only 1GB of memory and 2 GHz of the CPU speed is good enough? I also want to run windows on it too.
Do you people think that I would have to buy a virus scanner for the windows one? I really don't want to, and I'd rather know about this now because I really need it.
What do you think I should do?
If you have any suggestions that are not too hard for me. Please tell me ASAP.
Thank you.
Shang.

Shangqi wrote:
Do you think I should use my Debit card and buy the Microsoft Home office (excel for mac) which is $199.99 but I have also heard a lot of things for the Leopard too. That I would have to upgrade my RAM and everything, but I don't think I have that kind of money, and I certainly do not want to borrow money from the bank and I am defineately not going to spend money on that stuff. I think I should have brought the Macbook Pro.
Then download OpenOffice for free. It should do everything you need.
Did you think that a Macbook with only 1GB of memory and 2 GHz of the CPU speed is good enough? I also want to run windows on it too.
It is plenty good enough. 2 GB of RAM, however, would be very helpful. Plus RAM is quite cheap. Windows is not cheap.
Do you people think that I would have to buy a virus scanner for the windows one? I really don't want to, and I'd rather know about this now because I really need it.
Don't bother with it. Surf the web and check your mail on the Mac side and you should be fine.

How do i add multiple lines in a cell (like a list) in Excel for MAC?

I'm trying to add multiple lines (in the form of a list) in a individual cell in Excel for MAC. I used ALT Enter on my PC but that doesn't work on the iMac. Does anyone know how to do this?
Thanks!

It's been a while but I think you hold SHIFT while typing a page break (RETURN) to make a new line without shifting to another cell.
However, as Excel isn't an Apple product, I am sure you will get a faster and more current answer by using Microsoft's Office:Mac forums here:
Office for Mac forums
They are very good.

I have a mac osx 10.411G4 powre pc and recently I down loaded excel for mac 2004 the problem that iam having is that the two other programs i downloaded one program it says unable to read the dictionary of the application of the extension because it is no

I have a mac osx 10.411 power pc and recently i downloaded excel for mac 2004 so that i could download some program that only would work if i have excel for mac but what happen was it went to script and said that unable to read the dictionary of the application of the extension because it is not scriptable and the second pop up said the document autorun,inf could not open script editor can not open files in script editor app can any one help me how do i get these program working thank you norro460

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Can I load Microsoft Office Word 2011 for MAC on an IPAD 2? If yes, then how? I have the software and one more load opportunity left.

Can I load Microsoft Office Word 2011 for MAC on an IPAD 2? If yes, then how? I have the software and one more load opportunity left.
Reason that I ask is that I'm worried that I will not be able to read or work word or excel docs that people send me.

No. Office 2011 for Mac is coded to run with OS X. In order to work on the iPad the app must be coded for iOS instead.
If you look in the iTunes App Store, you will find that there are many apps that allow you to work with Office files on an iPad.
Allan

How to save a Module in Visual Basic with Excel for Mac 2011

On the MS support pages it shows how to create a module that will turn digits into written words:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/213360/en-us
so if you enter $32.50 it will convert it to Thirty-Two Dollars and 50 cents. Perfect for batch payroll work!
Using Excel for Mac I open the Visual Basic editor (which I clearly know nothing about!), paste in the text provided by Microsoft and it works perfectly.
BUT... if I close that workbook that module is gone. I can't use it again in the next workbook. Surely there's a simple way to save the module so it is available in all future workbooks... yes? This one has stumped several MS techs so far.

Hi,
I have no Excel for Mac, so I can't test this issue .
Did you save the Excel workbook as Excel Macro-Enabled workbook(*.xlsm)?I guess Excel would prompt you if you want to save the VBA code when you close the workbook.
Wind Zhang
TechNet Community Support

Word & Excel for Mac - any good?

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